Dublin Bay Studios, an €80m Hollywood-style film studio proposed for Dublin's Docklands, has agreed a strategic partnership with one of the world's biggest movie companies.

Backed by Alan Moloney, who produced Oscar-nominated film Brooklyn, and James Morris, the founder of TV3 and Windmill Lane Pictures, it has entered into a partnership with Creative Artists Agency.

The agency manages A-list clients such as Steven Spielberg and puts together finance packages for blockbuster movies.

Gary Levinsohn, producer of Jack Reacher, is also a backer of the Dublin project, while Bono has lobbied for the studio plan.

However, the proposal, which aims to bring in productions worth €400m to €500m a year to Ireland will need to secure zoning for a 20-acre site it has identified on the former Glass Bottle site.

Morris told the Sunday Independent there were huge opportunities for the sector. "It's not seen as an engine of growth and economic employment. And that is fundamentally what we're putting on the table," he said.

"We're convinced if we can put this in the right place and build it to the high level we've planned for, we will be in the top 5pc of studios worldwide," he added.